The general consensus is that Helaena committed suicide by throwing herself onto spikes but could it be something else?
I believe that she was murdered but not by Rhaenyra as some think. If there was anyone Rhaenyra wanted to throw out a window it would be Alicent.
I think it was Larys Strong or one of his agents. Larys is very much like Varys and what does he do at the end of Dance? Kill Pycelle and Kevan. It's also implied that Varys caused the riot in King's Landing and what happened after Helaena died? A riot.
Ergo, I think Helaena was killed by Larys.

Much has been made of Rhaegar and Elia's marriage, with many calling Rhaegar a terrible husband who left Elia to go be with Lyanna. I don't see it that way.
To start, there's was an arranged marriage and even Barristen couldn't say that Rhaegar loved Elia but he was fond of her. We aren't reliably told whether Elia loved Rhaegar but it was certainly a better marriage than the one between Rhaegar's parents and others we've seen in the series. They seemed to care about each other.
So we come to the Tourney at Harrenhal and the crowning of Lyanna Stark as Queen of Love and Beauty. Some see this as Rhaegar wanting Lyanna, either for love or prophecy, but this was before Aegon was born and before maesters told Elia she couldn't have any more children. My view is that Lyanna was the Knight of the Laughing Tree and Rhaegar felt she deserved to be recognized. We aren't told of Elia's reaction, so she probably didn't react publicly, but I see no reason why Rhaegar wouldn't have told Elia about what had happened, either after Rhaegar came back from his search or once they were on Dragonstone again.
Then comes Aegon's birth. Based on Dany's vision, Rhaegar had told Elia about his beliefs and of course about wanting "one more". Some readers interpret the events as Rhaegar just up and leaving Elia but I think she knew. Why wouldn't they have talked about what Rhaegar's plan was? Elia was Dornish so her husband having at least a paramour wouldn't have been shocking and given Dorne's more egalitarian views towards women, Elia might have admired Lyanna for defending her father's bannerman and sympathized with her not wanting to marry Robert.
A common misconception of the war was that Elia and her children were always in King's Landing but they were originally on Dragonstone before being called by Aerys. Some have criticized Rhaegar for not sending them to Dorne or back to Dragonstone but again that was the king's order - Rhaegar couldn't refuse. He had tried to organize a Great Council so that he could have the power to refuse his father's orders.
As GRRM has said, their relationship was complicated but I don't see Rhaegar as the selfish, uncaring, prophecy fanatic who completely discarded Elia that some fans see.

Cousin marriage is acceptable in Westeros and even in some of our own world's cultures. Royalty could get away with being even more closely related. The Hapsburg's had several uncle-niece marriages and Egyptian pharoahs married their sisters.

I'm skeptical of the whole story. Mushroom was not in Winterfell at the time but on Dragonstone. Sure Jacaerys could have come back and told this mother but that would have caused a huge rift amongst the blacks and no on mentions it. In fact it was Jacaerys who reconciled Corlys and Rhaenyra, something that I don't think would happen if Jace had married a bastard rather than the Sea Snake's undisputed granddaughter. Some have compared this story to Robb and Jeyne but it's stated that Jace and Sara married before sleeping together so the honor excuse wouldn't work.
And then there's the eggs. If Jace knew that 5 eggs were in the crypts, why would he leave them there? We saw how worried Jaehaerys was about the three eggs taken by Elissa ending up in the wrong hands. Why wouldn't Jace have taken them with him? And what about the people in Winterfell? Did Sara and/or Cregan know that there were dragon eggs in the crypts? If so, why leave them down there? If they didn't hatch, why not keep them as heirlooms or sell them?
To me there are just too many holes in Mushroom's tale of what happened in Winterfell.

Both Cat and Ned didn't really prepare any of their children (including Jon) for the real world, which is odd considering that they both knew of the worlds harsh realities. You can see this in Jon's early belief in the Night's Watch as this sacred brotherhood when it's really a penal colony, Bran's fanciful beliefs about knighthood and of course Sansa being obsessed with songs about noble princes and love.
It seems like Cat and Ned were more focused on creating a bubble than anything else. Understandably but not really helpful.

Does anyone else think that Alysanne was a bit hypocritical?
She didn't seem to mind when Rhaena and her daughters were past over in the line of succession but when it's her female descendants, then she's in favor of equal primogeniture?

While we all want Winds of Winter to be released, is there a character or storyline that you're not looking forward to?
For me it's the conflict in Slavers Bay. Did I love it when Dany sacked the cities and free the slaves? Yes. Did I want her to stay in Meereen? No. I understand why she wanted to stay but I found those chapters underwhelming and frankly boring.
I'm not really interested in Essos. I care about what's going on in Westeros.
Also the outcome. Yes Martin loves to break tropes and be unpredictable, but is he really going to have the slavers win? If so, then just let the Others take over.
So I'm hoping that the battle of Meereen is ended early in Winds and Dany can finally get to Westeros because if her story ends here it's going to be very disappointing.

To begin, I believe that Jon is Lyanna and Rhaegar's son but I don't think his name is Aegon. Some have suggested that his real name is Jaehaerys, which would make sense, but I'm inclined to a different name - Aemon.
There have been three known Aemon Targaryens-
1. Jaehaerys and Alysanne's son
2. Aemon the Dragonknight
3. Maester Aemon
Of course Jon's connection to Maester Aemon is obvious but there are connections to the other two.
The first Aemon was the second born son to Jaehaerys and Alysanne. Their first son was named Aegon and he died as an infant. Also Aemon was married to Jocelyn Baratheon. Lyanna of course was betrothed to Robert Baratheon.
But the closest comparisons are to the Dragonknight. Again he was the younger brother of an Aegon, he wielded a historic Valyrian sword, joined a brotherhood at a young age that required him to forsake lands, titles and wives, rose to Lord Commander and died at his post.
Now if Young Griff/Aegon really is a Blackfyre (which I personally believe) it creates a parallel between our current "Targaryens" and the Dragonknight's family - Aegon IV/Aegon VI, Naerys/Daenerys and Jon/Aemon. And if the rumor about Daeron II's paternity is true (which I don't believe but it's still worth mentioning) then Jon is descended from the Dragonknight.
In conclusion, I believe that Jon Snow's real name is Aemon Targaryen.

Is it possible that dragons abated inbred madness?
Looking at a family tree, the Targaryens were much more inbred pre-Dance but madness really only started after the Dance ie. Baelor's excessive piety, Rhaegel dancing naked in the Red Keep, Aerion Brightflame, and of course Aerys II whose parents were siblings but then you have to go back to his great-great-great grand parents (Aegon IV and Naerys) for a brother-sister marriage.
Of course there's Maegor but he seems to have been conceived with black magic and didn't bond with Balerion until he was an adult.
Then there's Old Valyria. We are told that incestuous marriages were most common amongst the dragonlords and that the Freehold existed for 5,000 years. Would Valyria have lasted so long if a bunch of insane dragonriders were around? I highly doubt it.
Ergo, my theory is that the magic of dragons held back the insanity of inbreeding.

While I genuinely believe a lot of what Mushroom says, the problem is that he wasn't in Winterfell when the supposed marriage and supposed dragon eggs occurred. Sure maybe Jacaerys told people when he returned to Dragonstone but both stories seem unlikely to me. First Jacaerys was betrothed to Baela and marrying a bastard would have insulted her, Rhaenyra, Corlys and all the other blacks. Second, if Vermax did lay eggs, why wouldn't Jacaerys take them with him? Why would he leave five potential dragons in the North?

My question is - What about House Velaryon? Lucerys Velaryon was Master of Ships and a close ally of Aerys - and an ancient Valyrian family that often married Targaryens. Was there no female members available?

Moon tea is used to prevent or abort pregnancies and both maesters and woods witches know how to make it, even north of the Wall. So I have two questions -
1. Is it more acceptable for women in Westeros to use moon tea than it is for a woman in our world to have an abortion? Hoster Tully gave moon tea to Lysa. Was that preferably to his daughter giving birth to a bastard fathered by a very minor noble? The Faith damns bastards, so would the clergy support moon tea? Or is there a pro-life movement in Westeros?
2. Why are there so many bastards if moon tea were so widely available? For example, why wasn't Lollys Stokeworth or Delena Florent (mother of Edric Storm) or Ramsay's mother given moon tea?